150 home care jobs to go

Health care workers have rallied in Brisbane's south over a plan to outsource home care services.

The public service union, Together, says the Queensland government is looking to axe 150 full-time equivalent positions by next financial year from the Metro South Health area, which takes in Eight Mile Plains.

Acting Assistant Secretary Michael Thomas said those earmarked for redundancy included 110 home care workers, 12 co-ordinators and 30 or so allied health positions such as psychologists, occupational therapists, social workers and dieticians.

Mr Thomas said up to 50 people protested at the Eight Mile Plains Community Health Centre on Monday afternoon.

He said the service looked after 4300 patients a year and if it was outsourced the community would suffer.

"The people who need in-home care will become a commodity, they stop being a person," he said.

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"They are also no longer the responsibility of the minister, the accountability goes from the government.

"The government is taking itself out of the business of looking after Queenslanders."

A spokesman for Health Minister Lawrence Springborg said he was confident that those requiring home care wouldn't notice a change in how they were cared for.

"It's insulting to those organisations that they somehow provided a lesser service, they do not," he said.

"That is a gross insult to the non-government organisations all across Australia that are doing it, we're talking about charitable organisations such as BlueCare and Anglicare."